this is gonna be a special rant bc my ass actually logged onto tumblr on my computer and it was special requested to put out some knowledge bc apparently no one cares enough about the caps franchise before we got successful and thats a BIG ISSUE for me so we’re gonna start at the very beginning.
The Very Beginning: Think of the worst team in the NHL right now. Who came to mind? The Oilers? The Leafs? Okay now imagine them like 8,000 times worse and you get the inagural 1974-1975 Washington Capitals hockey team. Widely regarded as “the worst team to ever skate”. The worst record right now is the Vancouver Canucks with a record of 27-34-13. The Caps inagural season record? 8-67-5. If going down in the record books as the literal worst team in NHL history here are some other records they hold: -Fewest wins by an NHL team playing at least 70 games -The worst winning percentage in history (.131) -Most road losses (39 out of 40) -Most consecutive road losses (37) -Most consecutive losses (17) The Washington Capitals earned themselves a total of 21 points that season, which is just truly astounding to think about imho because HOLY SHIT this team made history by being the worst Things became really unstable for The Washington Capitals throught the rest of the decade. The Caps varried from “horrible team burn it all to the ground and start again” and “we were in playoff contention until literally the last day of the regular season”. The good thing to come out of all the pain? Dem draft picks son. Y’all should know at least one of the guys because his number is hanging in our fucking rafters. #11, Mike Gartner. Dude finished second to Gretzky for Rookie of the Year honors (i believe in the WHA). Gartner played with the Capitals for nearly ten seasons and when he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars, he held the records for franchise leader in career goals, assists, and points. Even with Ovi, Backstrom and Bondra (who we will get to later) taking over he still stands as 3rd, 4th, and 3rd respectively.
Moving Out or Moving On? Because of the Capitals awful records, there was serious talk of the team leaving D.C. and fans were like “lmao you thought” so #SaveTheCaps started and two major things happened to ensure the caps would stay. One of the biggest trades in frachise history gave us Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis, and Craig Laughlin (We know him as Locker now) for Ryan Walter and Rick Green. You know who else is up in the rafters? Rod Langway. #5. They man, the myth, the legend. The named captain who led the Capitals to post-season appearances every year he played in Washington, which was 11 btw. Langway is probably one the greatest, if not the greatest defenseman in franchise history and with Langway, Gartner and later drafted Dman Scott Stevens the Capitals would have their first ever playoff appearance in 1983. Needless to say, we didn’t go very far. We lost to the 3 time defending and going FOUR the Dynasty New York Islanders. This turn arround essentially assured that the Capitals were #HereToStay
The Miricale Run Fast forward a couple years because if you want to look at all the post-season defeats do it on your own time though I recomend looking up the Easter Epic game because holy shit bruh. Anyways, the year is 1998 and the Capitals are in fucking form. You got Peter Bondra, Dale Hunter (Also a retired number, look him up), Joe Juneau and Oatsie (who was a great player but an awful coach), and my personal favorite OALLIE THE GOALIE. I don’t have time to tell you all about these guys but please, please look them up because I will fight skin and teeth to see Bondra (#12) and Kolzig (#37) hanging in the rafters. Anyways, The capitals defeat the Bruins, trump the Senators and in a dramatic OT GWG by Joe Jeneau in game 6, pass the Sabres to make their only Stanley Cup finals appreance. Unfortunately, the Capitals would not hold up against the defending champs (Detroit Red Wings) and got swept in 4 games. (Fun Fact: in this season Oates, Housley, and Hunter all hit 1,000points, the only time in NHL history 3 players on the same team reach the same milestone in the same season)
Sad times in DC The season after the miricale run the caps finished with a record of 31-45-6 and the team was sold to current owner and probably the sweetest owner ever Ted Leonsis (luv u Ted).in 2000 an 2001 the Caps won b2b SE division titles but lost to the fucking pens in the first round. After the 2000-2001 season actual fuckface Oates demanded a trade but management was like “nah, plus cause ur a fuckface you don’t get to be captain anymore lmao”
Why I hate Jaromir Jagr In the summer of 2001 the capitals signed the biggest fucking contract in NHL history for living legend Jaromir Jagr. $77Mil over 7 years. We gave up a lot of young and good talent for Jagr and he played like he didn’t want to fucking be here. Look at his numbers from the last year playing with the Pens (121 points) his highest year with the Caps (79 points) and the year after he got traded to the Rangers (123 points). Jagr was suppossed to be our franchise guy and while I respect the accomplisments he has acheived and I recognize his undeniable talent and I acknowledge his title as a literal living legend who is still playing at 43 years old, fuck that guy for what he did to us. After this whole debacle, the Capitals went into rebuild mode trading Bondra to the Sens and Gonchar to the Bruins and if there was one good thing that came out of this it was Oh Captain, My Captain Alexander Ovechkin. (Side note: during this rebuild Robert Lang the League’s leading scorer was traded mid-season, the first time that has happened, yet another milestone)
From here on out, I think the majority of the fanbase knows and if you don’t here’s a summary: killin it in the reg, being killed in the playoffs. Life sucks with game sevens and 1st and 2nd round exists but this team has something magical in them and now you know the history and can learn yourself up about the legends I didn’t cover in depth. Please, Please look into Capitals history because it is so amazing and so important to know where we come from as an organization. And, if you made it this far, i’ll buy you a drink because you care about this team more than most people so thank you, so so much.
just moving along like everyone else 